The Bloodroot is fragile spring flower that develops and rises from the center of its curled leaf, opening in full sun, and closing at night. Like most members of the Poppy Family, it lasts for a relatively short time. The red juice from the underground stem was used by Indians as a dye for baskets, clothing, and war paint, as well as for insect repellent. The generic name, from the Latin sanguinarius, means bleeding. It was nice to finally see some new wildflowers blooming.
The Bloodroot
The flowers are finally emerging. The poor daffodils had popped up two months ago, only to be frozen and snowed on numerous times, but at last they have a chance to open their blossoms. Some wildflowers also emerged overnight. Maybe, just maybe, spring or summer has finally arrived.
Finally Spring
The birds are singing up a storm this morning especially this Brown Thrasher. I think they are happy the snow is melting and things are turning green again. Brown Thrashers are accomplished songsters that may sing more than 1,100 different song types and include imitations of other birds, including Chuck-will’s-widows, Tufted titmice, Northern Cardinals, Wood Thrushes, and Northern Flickers. Some sources state that it has up to 3,000 song chants. All I know is that he can get very loud but at least he doesn’t get off key too often.
Singing Brown Thrasher
May 1st, often called May Day, just might have more holidays than any other day of the year. It’s a celebration of Spring. It’s a day of political protests. It’s a neopagan festival, a saint’s feast day, and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday.
There are many traditions for May Day, depending on what country one is in, including the May Pole and in some parts of the United States, May Baskets are made. These are small baskets usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someone’s doorstep. The giver rings the bell and runs away. The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver. If they catch the person, a kiss is exchanged.
Well this year, the May Baskets would be filled with treats and no flowers as this one stem is the only flower I found blooming at my place this morning.
May Day
A lot of the snow has melted but there are still no wildflowers blooming. The Jack-in-the-Pulpit also called Parson-in-the-Pulpit seems like an appropriate picture to post on a Sunday. Jack (or Parson) in the Pulpit alludes to the resemblance of the spadix (Jack) in the spathe (Pulpit) to a country parson perched on an elevated stand over his congregation.
One would think that they could have given the preacher a better name than Jack since it sounds like Jack-in-the-box. Now Luke, John, Paul, Mark, James, Daniel, Nathan or Peter would be a better sounding name for a preacher.
Parson-in-the-Pulpit
Spring officially arrived yesterday when the temperature finally got above 60 and the warm wind brought the return of the bluebirds. The robins, red winged blackbirds, wood thrushes, killdeers, grouse, chickadees, warblers, woodpeckers, cardinals and finches were all singing announcing spring but the loudest voice was the chorus of frogs who had emerged from the cold of winter.
Another sign that spring had finally arrived was the pussy willows catkins merging. Before the male catkins of these species come into full flower they are covered in fine, grayish fur, leading to a fancied likeness to tiny cats, also known as “pussies”. The catkins appear long before the leaves, and are one of the earliest signs of spring. Even though I had to walk through snow to find these pussy willows, finding them is definitely a sign that winter may be over.
Pussy Willows
The sun is out, snow is melting and it might actually warm up to a normal temperature today, but there won’t be any dry, green grass for the new calves to sleep on. Instead just cold snow and yucky mud awaits the calves first adventures into the world.
New Calves
The sun finally appeared after a string of cloudy days and this is the type of white I rather see than a white ground covered with snow.
Daffodils Smiling
Last March there were many different flowers blooming but this year there is no sign of any flowers in April yet. And if the crocus had popped its head out, it would be covered with the fresh snow over night with more snowing coming so I guess the flowers were smart not to poke their heads up. But the robin will definitely get snow on its tail three times at least!
Missing Crocus
I sure rather see some of these Violas than the snow but it appears they won’t be blooming for a while.
Smiling Faces
